admin<br />
<p class="head2">NEWS RELEASE</p>
<p class="head0">Copenhagen, 13 March 2002</p>
<p>This week's European Union summit in Barcelona should see the
environment at last given its rightful political place alongside
economic and social issues, Domingo Jiménez-Beltrán, the Executive
Director of the European Environment Agency, said today in the Catalan
capital.</p>
<p>"For the first time ever EU leaders, at the Barcelona summit on
Friday and Saturday, will take stock of progress in implementing their
Sustainable Development Strategy, which seeks to balance economic,
social and environmental needs within a unified framework," he
said.</p>
<p>"This is an historic occasion that should see environmental
requirements finally integrated, as an equal partner, into the
ambitious socio-economic agenda that the European Council set in Lisbon
two years ago," Mr Jiménez-Beltrán added.</p>
<p>The European Environment Agency, the key provider of environmental
information at European level, has contributed to the preparation of
this important meeting under Spain's presidency by contributing data
for, as well as assessments of, the indicators used to measure progress
in the environmental dimension of the Sustainable Development
Strategy.</p>
<p>Mr Jiménez-Beltrán continued: "Indicators are crucial because you
can manage only what you can measure. They also aid transparency and
make policymakers more accountable to the public.</p>
<p>"At present the EU's sustainability indicators cover climate change,
transport, energy production and use, threats to public health from
urban air pollution and municipal waste management, but it is accepted
that they will be refined and expanded over time.</p>
<p>"The EEA's latest update on the situation and trends in these
issues, which we provided in a working paper earlier this month, shows
that there has been progress towards reaching targets in some areas but
that in general we are not there yet.</p>
<p>"Last week's agreement by EU Environment Ministers to ratify the
Kyoto Protocol - the global community's first step in what is likely to
be a long struggle to limit climate change - was excellent news and a
great success for the Spanish presidency. But meeting the Protocol's
targets for limiting and reducing greenhouse gas emissions will be a
tough challenge, not least for Spain itself, since current trends and
projections in many countries are worrying.</p>
<p>"Climate change, transport, energy, waste, tourism -- these and
other driving forces and pressures on the environment are all reflected
in the landscape in one way or another. Indeed, the landscape can be
seen as a metaphor for the environment - sustainable development is
mostly about sustainable use of land.</p>
<p>"EU Member States have already asked for the sustainable development
indicators to be extended to cover land use and nature protection and
biodiversity, among many other issues.</p>
<p>"For these reasons the EEA has chosen summit week and the summit
city of Barcelona to organise two major land-related events, both of
which begin today.</p>
<p>"A two-day workshop on the terrestrial environment aims to make
progress towards defining indicators that will enable us to measure how
sustainably land use, urban and coastal environments and soil are being
managed, and thus eventually to improve their management.</p>
<p>"Our second event, a week-long exhibition on Europe's changing
landscape, seeks to draw the public's attention to the growing
challenges facing Europe's territory. After Barcelona the exhibition
will go on tour to other parts of Spain.</p>
<p>"The key message is that Europe's land, the marvellous natural gift
we have inherited, is under threat. Too often land is given only an
economic value for development, construction of infrastructure or
agriculture. But land is also a scarce and non-renewable asset which is
highly valuable because of the amenities it offers to society and the
vital functions it supplies to the economy and ecosystems. The EEA
takes its responsibilities for informing and communicating about this
issue very seriously.</p>
<p>"Land is of particular relevance to the Mediterranean basin, whose
coastline is one of the most valuable pieces of real estate in the
world - in both socio-economic and ecological terms - but also one of
the most degraded and threatened.</p>
<p>With Barcelona's tradition as a forum for discussing Mediterranean
issues, it is entirely fitting that these events should be taking place
here, on the eve of EU leaders' first-ever review of Europe's
sustainability."</p>
<p class="head1">Note to Editors</p>
<p>The EEA working paper issued earlier this month is posted on the EEA
website at <a href="http://org.eea.europa.eu/documents/speeches/speech_march_04">http://org.eea.europa.eu/documents/speeches/speech_march_04</a>.</p>
<p class="head1">About the EEA</p>
<p>The European Environment Agency is the main source of information
used by the European Union and its Member States in developing
environment policies. The Agency aims to support sustainable
development and to help achieve significant and measurable improvement
in Europe's environment through the provision of timely, targeted,
relevant and reliable information to policy-making agents and the
public. Established by the EU in 1990 and operational in Copenhagen
since 1994, the EEA is the hub of the European environment information
and observation network (EIONET), a network of some 600 bodies across
Europe through which it both collects and disseminates
environment-related data and information.</p>
<p>The Agency, which is open to all nations that share its objectives,
currently has 29 member countries. These are the 15 EU Member States;
Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, which are members of the European
Economic Area; and 11 of the 13 countries in central and eastern Europe
and the Mediterranean area that are seeking accession to the EU --
Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia,
Lithuania, Malta, Romania, Slovenia and the Slovak Republic. Their
membership makes the EEA the first EU body to take in the candidate
countries. It is anticipated that the two remaining candidate
countries, Poland and Turkey, will ratify their membership agreements
within the next few months. This will take the Agency's membership to
31 countries. Negotiations with Switzerland on membership are also
under way.</p>
<br />
<br />
<p>[<a href="http://www.eea.europa.eu/media/newsreleases/barcelona_press_release#top">top</a>]</p>2016-06-28T16:09:49Z20111002002-03-13T10:30:00ZBarcelona: where environment, economy and the social dimension meeteea.progressbar.interfaces.IBaseObjecteea.pdf.subtypes.interfaces.ICollectionPDFAwareApp.interfaces.IPersistentExtraProducts.ATContentTypes.interfaces.interfaces.IHistoryAwareProducts.ATContentTypes.interfaces.news.IATNewsItemOFS.interfaces.IFindSupportProducts.CMFCore.interfaces._content.ICatalogAwareProducts.EEAContentTypes.content.interfaces.IExternalHighlightProducts.Archetypes.interfaces.athistoryaware.IATHistoryAwareAccessControl.interfaces.IOwnedProducts.Archetypes.interfaces.base.IBaseObjectOFS.interfaces.ITraversablepersistent.interfaces.IPersistentplone.app.iterate.interfaces.IIterateAwareProducts.EEAContentTypes.migrate.interfaces.IContentToMigrateeea.facetednavigation.subtypes.interfaces.IPossibleFacetedNavigableProducts.CMFCore.interfaces._content.IDynamicTypeeea.geotags.storage.interfaces.IGeoTaggableProducts.LinguaPlone.interfaces.ITranslatableProducts.CMFCore.interfaces._content.IContentisheea.versions.interfaces.IVersionEnhancedplone.contentrules.engine.interfaces.IRuleAssignablewebdav.EtagSupport.EtagBaseInterfaceProducts.CMFEditions.interfaces.IVersionedProducts.CMFCore.interfaces._content.IOpaqueItemManagerProducts.Archetypes.interfaces.base.IBaseContentAcquisition.interfaces.IAcquirerplone.folder.interfaces.IOrderableFolderProducts.Archetypes.interfaces.referenceable.IReferenceableOFS.interfaces.IFoldereea.themecentre.interfaces.IPossibleThemeCentreeea.epub.subtypes.interfaces.IEPUBAwareOFS.interfaces.IObjectManagerwebdav.interfaces.IWriteLockeea.cache.subtypes.interfaces.ICacheAwareOFS.interfaces.IOrderedContainerplone.app.imaging.interfaces.IBaseObjectProducts.EEAContentTypes.interfaces.IEEAContentOFS.interfaces.ICopySourceeea.reports.interfaces.IPossibleReportContainerProducts.CMFPlone.interfaces.constrains.ISelectableConstrainTypesplone.locking.interfaces.ITTWLockableeea.epub.interfaces.IExportableplone.portlets.interfaces.ILocalPortletAssignableeea.workflow.interfaces.IHasMandatoryWorkflowFieldsOFS.interfaces.IPropertyManagerwebdav.interfaces.IDAVCollectioneea.themecentre.interfaces.IThemeTaggablezope.annotation.interfaces.IAttributeAnnotatableProducts.EEAContentTypes.interfaces.IEEAPossibleContenteea.uberlisting.browser.app.interfaces.IPossibleUberlistingViewApp.interfaces.IUndoSupportProducts.Archetypes.interfaces.base.IBaseFolderOFS.interfaces.IItemcollective.quickupload.interfaces.IQuickUploadCapableeea.alchemy.interfaces.IAlchemyDiscoverableAccessControl.interfaces.IRoleManagerProducts.ATContentTypes.interfaces.folder.IATBTreeFolderProducts.CMFCore.interfaces._content.IFolderishAccessControl.interfaces.IPermissionMappingSupportwebdav.interfaces.IDAVResourceProducts.CMFCore.interfaces._content.IMutableMinimalDublinCoreeea.pdf.subtypes.interfaces.IPDFAwareProducts.ATContentTypes.interfaces.interfaces.IATContentTypeeea.promotion.interfaces.IPromotableProducts.CMFDynamicViewFTI.interfaces.ISelectableBrowserDefaultProducts.NavigationManager.sections.interfaces.INavigationSectionPositionableplone.uuid.interfaces.IUUIDAwareProducts.Archetypes.interfaces.metadata.IExtensibleMetadataeea.relations.content.interfaces.IBaseObjectarchetypes.schemaextender.interfaces.IExtensibleplone.app.folder.folder.IATUnifiedFoldereea.faceted.inheritance.subtypes.interfaces.IPossibleFacetedHeritorOFS.interfaces.ISimpleItemOFS.interfaces.ICopyContainerProducts.CMFCore.interfaces._content.IWorkflowAwareApp.interfaces.INavigationeea.annotator.subtypes.interfaces.IAnnotatorAware4KTOR8Z2VYGbarcelona_press_release Barcelona: where environment, economy and the social dimension meet
NEWS RELEASE
Copenhagen, 13 March 2002
This week's European Union summit in Barcelona should see the
environment at last given its rightful political place alongside
economic and social issues, Domingo Jiménez-Beltrán, the Executive
Director of the European Environment Agency, said today in the Catalan
capital.
"For the first time ever EU leaders, at the Barcelona summit on
Friday and Saturday, will take stock of progress in implementing their
Sustainable Development Strategy, which seeks to balance economic,
social and environmental needs within a unified framework," he
said.
"This is an historic occasion that should see environmental
requirements finally integrated, as an equal partner, into the
ambitious socio-economic agenda that the European Council set in Lisbon
two years ago," Mr Jiménez-Beltrán added.
The European Environment Agency, the key provider of environmental
information at European level, has contributed to the preparation of
this important meeting under Spain's presidency by contributing data
for, as well as assessments of, the indicators used to measure progress
in the environmental dimension of the Sustainable Development
Strategy.
Mr Jiménez-Beltrán continued: "Indicators are crucial because you
can manage only what you can measure. They also aid transparency and
make policymakers more accountable to the public.
"At present the EU's sustainability indicators cover climate change,
transport, energy production and use, threats to public health from
urban air pollution and municipal waste management, but it is accepted
that they will be refined and expanded over time.
"The EEA's latest update on the situation and trends in these
issues, which we provided in a working paper earlier this month, shows
that there has been progress towards reaching targets in some areas but
that in general we are not there yet.
"Last week's agreement by EU Environment Ministers to ratify the
Kyoto Protocol - the global community's first step in what is likely to
be a long struggle to limit climate change - was excellent news and a
great success for the Spanish presidency. But meeting the Protocol's
targets for limiting and reducing greenhouse gas emissions will be a
tough challenge, not least for Spain itself, since current trends and
projections in many countries are worrying.
"Climate change, transport, energy, waste, tourism -- these and
other driving forces and pressures on the environment are all reflected
in the landscape in one way or another. Indeed, the landscape can be
seen as a metaphor for the environment - sustainable development is
mostly about sustainable use of land.
"EU Member States have already asked for the sustainable development
indicators to be extended to cover land use and nature protection and
biodiversity, among many other issues.
"For these reasons the EEA has chosen summit week and the summit
city of Barcelona to organise two major land-related events, both of
which begin today.
"A two-day workshop on the terrestrial environment aims to make
progress towards defining indicators that will enable us to measure how
sustainably land use, urban and coastal environments and soil are being
managed, and thus eventually to improve their management.
"Our second event, a week-long exhibition on Europe's changing
landscape, seeks to draw the public's attention to the growing
challenges facing Europe's territory. After Barcelona the exhibition
will go on tour to other parts of Spain.
"The key message is that Europe's land, the marvellous natural gift
we have inherited, is under threat. Too often land is given only an
economic value for development, construction of infrastructure or
agriculture. But land is also a scarce and non-renewable asset which is
highly valuable because of the amenities it offers to society and the
vital functions it supplies to the economy and ecosystems. The EEA
takes its responsibilities for informing and communicating about this
issue very seriously.
"Land is of particular relevance to the Mediterranean basin, whose
coastline is one of the most valuable pieces of real estate in the
world - in both socio-economic and ecological terms - but also one of
the most degraded and threatened.
With Barcelona's tradition as a forum for discussing Mediterranean
issues, it is entirely fitting that these events should be taking place
here, on the eve of EU leaders' first-ever review of Europe's
sustainability."
Note to Editors
The EEA working paper issued earlier this month is posted on the EEA
website at http://org.eea.europa.eu/documents/speeches/speech_march_04 .
About the EEA
The European Environment Agency is the main source of information
used by the European Union and its Member States in developing
environment policies. The Agency aims to support sustainable
development and to help achieve significant and measurable improvement
in Europe's environment through the provision of timely, targeted,
relevant and reliable information to policy-making agents and the
public. Established by the EU in 1990 and operational in Copenhagen
since 1994, the EEA is the hub of the European environment information
and observation network (EIONET), a network of some 600 bodies across
Europe through which it both collects and disseminates
environment-related data and information.
The Agency, which is open to all nations that share its objectives,
currently has 29 member countries. These are the 15 EU Member States;
Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, which are members of the European
Economic Area; and 11 of the 13 countries in central and eastern Europe
and the Mediterranean area that are seeking accession to the EU --
Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia,
Lithuania, Malta, Romania, Slovenia and the Slovak Republic. Their
membership makes the EEA the first EU body to take in the candidate
countries. It is anticipated that the two remaining candidate
countries, Poland and Turkey, will ratify their membership agreements
within the next few months. This will take the Agency's membership to
31 countries. Negotiations with Switzerland on membership are also
under way.
[ top ]
2002-03-13T10:30:00Zbarcelona_press_releasemiddleFalse